Control system for depositing powder to a molten puddle
AssigneeMTS Systems Corporation
InventorsFrank G. Arcella, Bradley A. Cleveland, Mark S. Fullen
Life of this patent
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Abstract
An imaging system for controlling powder aiming in a molten puddle. In the imaging system of the present invention, an image processor extracts a first image of the molten puddle and a second image of a powder envelope from a composite image of the weld area. The first and second processed images provide feedback for process control.
Claims27
A material deposition system comprising:
- an energy source orientated to form a molten puddle on a workpiece;
- a nozzle coupleable to a source of flowable weld material and having a discharge opening orientated to deposit the flowable weld material to the molten puddle;
- an imager orientated to capture an image of a weld area including the molten puddle and the deposited flowable weld material;
- and
- an image processor coupled to the imager including:
- first image processing to extract a profile of the molten puddle from the image of the weld area;
- and
- second image processing to extract a profile of the deposited weld material from the image of the weld area.
A material deposition system comprising:
- a laser to form a molten puddle on a weld area of a workpiece;
- an imager orientated to capture an image of the weld area on the workpiece;
- and
- a processor coupled to the imager and configured to process the image of the weld area to isolate a profile of the molten puddle and calculate a scaled position of the molten puddle relative to a datum.
A method for welding control comprising steps of:
- heating a workpiece to form a molten puddle in a welding area;
- depositing a weld material to the molten puddle in the welding area;
- imaging the welding area;
- and
- processing an image of the welding area to extract a profile of the molten puddle and a profile of the deposited weld material.
A method of welding control comprising steps of:
- heating a workpiece to form a molten puddle in a welding area;
- depositing a weld material to the molten puddle;
- imaging the welding area;
- processing an image of the welding area to extract a profile of the molten puddle;
- and
- calculating a bias of a position of the molten puddle relative to a reference datum.
An imaging system for welding applications comprising:
- an imager;
- an image processor to extract a molten profile from an image and calculate a scaled position of the molten profile relative to a datum.
An imaging system for welding applications comprising:
- an imager and an image processor configured to extract a profile of a molten puddle from an image and a profile of deposited weld material from the image and calculate a bias between the profile of the deposited weld material and the profile of the molten puddle.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.